That is all it takes to get a section of the market - a perception. A very real perception for those who admire Leica but could never afford one. A self limiting concept I agree but one in which all the marshes around the ivory tower might become occupied and spoil the clear view somewhat.

Leica owners don't care how many lumbering wombats are in the marshes. it's irrelevant. despite the cost of Leica equipment, it is often used for very serious work by many with limited means. they save up, buy, and use for long periods of time.

So do those writing raw conversion routines have to really convert the raw data without help from Fuji? I would have thought a data dump was a data dump and all that was necessary was a map on how it might be read.

the development of a chroma interpolation and gamma correction algorithm is quite complex. fuji's sensor design uses an unusual 'asymmetric' organization of red, green and blue filtered photosites, which requires a more complex algorithm covering a larger number of photosites per pixel output and introduces some very complex to control imaging issues, as Sandy's articles discuss.

fuji's "help" to a raw processor development team is to deliver the processor specs with the mosaic organization and suggested processing ideas, and some reference data. from that point on, it's the business of the algorithm developer to create the best algorithm that fits the processing target environment and produces results to the satisfaction of the client who hired them to do the job.